This invention relates to refrigeration arrangements for increasing the cooling at the upper surface of food which is being served from food pans on a counter or cabinet.
It has previously been proposed to provide arrangements for increasing the upper surface cooling of food in food pans, and certain prior arrangements directed to this goal are disclosed in the following U.S. Patents:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,685,311 Granted: Aug. 11, 1987
Title: Food Preparation Table Having A Refrigerated Ingredient Zone
U.S. Pat. No. 5,168,79 Granted: Dec. 8, 1992
Title: Food Preparation Table With Open Air Food Storage
U.S. Pat. No. 5,381,672 Granted: Jan. 17, 1995
Title: Cabinet Refrigeration System with Cold Air Distributor
U.S. Pat. No. 5,927,092 Granted: Jul. 27, 1999
Food Pan Refrigeration Unit
U.S. Pat. No. 6,089,036 Granted: Jul. 18, 2000
Title: Open-Top Chilling Apparatus
However, in some cases the proposed arrangements involve the flow of air over the food, and this air flow may impair the quality of the food being dispensed. Also, in some cases the food pans may be so recessed down into the food service counter or table, as to be inconvenient for the server to access the food. Further, there are many existing installations where the food pans have an upper lip which is substantially at the level of the serving counter or table; and these older installations may not adequately protect the food against spoilage resulting from the exposed upper surface of the food.
In accordance with one illustrative embodiment of the invention, a cooling collar or wrap is provided which may be retrofitted onto existing food pan service counters or tables. The collar or wrap may contain cooling coils, and may be coupled to the existing cooling system having the usual compressor and heat exchanger. The cooling collar or wrap is preferably somewhat lower or may be omitted at the front toward the server, for easy access, and may be somewhat higher at the back away from the server to provide additional cooling. By way of example and not of limitation, the height at the front of the collar toward the server may be about one to three inches, and the height at the back, away from the server may be about three to six or seven inches. Also, as noted above, the cooling collar may be open toward the server, and have only three sides with one side extending along the food pans on the side away from the server and also extending at least part way along the two ends of the installation. Alternatively, in order to provide better visibility for the customer, the collars may be the same height in the front and back, or may even be slightly lower in the front than the back.
Additional features may include an inner stainless steel liner and an outer metallic housing or shell, with the coils engaging the inner liner, and foamed-in-place insulation between the inner liner and the outer housing. The upper edges of the inner liner and outer housing may be separated by a thermally insulating strip. While the unit is particularly suitable for retrofit applications, initial complete installations may also be designed with substantially the same resultant configuration.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a food service cabinet may be provided with pans extending down into the cabinet, and a first cooling unit within the cabinet directing cooling fluid to cool the pans; and an additional upper cooling collar may be provided, with the collar configuration including constructional features as suggested hereinabove; and the two cooling arrangements may be coupled to a single compressor and heat exchanger.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following detailed description and from the accompanying drawings.